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Hillary Clinton Embarrasses Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon

On March 31, 2010, in Political, by admin

Hillary Clinton left Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon alone at the podium on Tuesday. Cannon gave the closing news conference for the Arctic Summit Meeting solo after Clinton left the meeting early, citing that important parties had erroneously been left out of the meeting: Inuit groups, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

The meeting did include foreign ministers from Russia, Norway and Denmark, in addition to Cannon and Clinton. The five countries are aiming to co-operate over untapped Arctic resources; all are contributing to military build up in the region. As much as 25% of the world’s untapped oil and gas resources lay under Arctic ice. Canada has long claimed sovereignty over the North Passage, however, Russia and the U.S. do not share this opinion. Despite Clinton’s early departure, she said that the meeting had been “excellent” and that there is “so much we can do together”.

Clinton’s two days in Canada gave Harper’s government a few things to think about. Not only did she publicly call out Cannon for the inappropriate exclusion of Aboriginal groups and other countries with vested interest in the Arctic circle, she ruffled feathers over Afghanistan and abortion.

Conservatives have been the brunt of much criticism for its refusal to fund family planning programs that include abortion. Purportedly pro-choice Liberals have been spineless and avoid using the word “abortion”. Clinton, however, does not lack in the backbone department.

“You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health. And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion,” she said.

“I do not think governments should be involved in making these decisions. It is perfectly legitimate for people to hold their own personal views based on conscience, religion or any other basis. But I’ve always believed the government should not intervene in decisions of such intimacy.”

As if that weren’t enough to irk Mr. Harper, she also publicly opposed Canada’s projected 2011 withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that the U.S. would prefer it if Canadian troops extended their stay.

And thus concluded Hillary Clinton’s Canadian shake-down.

Thanks WorldNews Vine.

Hillary Clinton Criticizes Canada Leaving out Several Key Members in Artic Meeting

On March 30, 2010, in Political, by admin

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has criticized close ally Canada for leaving several key players out of a high-level meeting regarding the Arctic.

On Monday, Canada hosted a meeting of foreign ministers from five countries with Arctic coastlines for talks on maritime boundaries, disaster response and other issues. The U.S. and Canada were joined by Denmark, Norway and Russia.

But other countries with Arctic interests – Finland, Iceland and Sweden – as well as northern indigenous groups were not invited.

Clinton said in remarks to the meeting that significant international discussions on Arctic issues should include those who have legitimate interests in the region. She said she hopes the Arctic will always showcase the ability to work together, not create new divisions.

Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon told reporters after the meeting that the gathering was not designed to circumvent the broader Arctic Council, of which Finland, Iceland and Sweden are a part.

Canada said the meeting focused on issues such as Arctic research and rescue, and disaster response.

Arctic disputes have intensified in recent years as melting ice makes the region more accessible to shipping and the exploration of energy deposits. The Arctic seabed is estimated to contain about one-quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves.

One source of tension is the Northwest Passage to the Arctic. Canada claims it as its own, while the U.S. says it is international territory.

Thanks VOA News.

Tagged with: Arctic • Canada • Clinton • DENMARK • fineland • Hillary Clinton • iceland • Norway • Russia • Secretary of state Hillary Clinton • Sweden • US

12 Centuries Old War Ships Found in the Baltic Sea

On March 9, 2010, in Life/Culture, by admin

A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks—some of them unusually well-preserved—have been found in the Baltic Sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany.

The oldest wreck probably dates back to medieval times and could be up to 800 years old, while the others are likely from the 17th to 19th centuries, Peter Norman of Sweden’s National Heritage Board said Tuesday.

“They could be interesting, but we have only seen pictures of their exterior. Many of them are considered to be fully intact. They look very well-preserved,” Norman told The Associated Press.

Thousands of wrecks—from medieval ships to warships sunk during the world wars of the 20th century—have been found in the Baltic Sea, which doesn’t have the ship worm that destroys wooden wrecks in saltier oceans.

The latest discovery was made during a search of the seabed east of the Swedish island of Gotland by the Nord Stream consortium, which is building a 750-mile (1,200-kilometer) pipeline in the Baltic Sea.

The 12 wrecks were found in a 30-mile-long and 1.2-mile-wide (48-kilometer-long and 2 kilometer-wide) corridor, Nord Stream spokeswoman Tora Leifland Holmstrom said.

The heritage board said three of the wrecks have intact hulls and are lying upside-down at a depth of 430 feet (130 meters).

Swedish marine archaeology experts analyzed pictures of the wrecks and determined that they could be of a high historic value.

“The content can tell us a lot about everyday life during that time,” Norman said.

It’s unclear whether any of them will be salvaged but the board said it hopes they will be explored by divers—though Norman added many of them are at a depth that would require very advanced and costly diving operations.

The Nord Stream consortium, which plans to start construction in April, has promised to make sure its activities don’t damage the wrecks. The area where they were found is in Sweden’s economic zone, but not in the planned route of the pipeline, Leifland Holmstrom said.

The Nord Stream project, in which Russia’s OAO Gazprom holds a 51 percent stake, has uncovered scores of other objects during seabed searches of the route, including about 80 sea mines and a washing machine, she said.

Last year, parts of a 300-year-old ship were salvaged from Germany’s Bay of Greifswald to clear a path for the pipeline, which expects to carry some 1.9 trillion cubic feet (55 billion cubic meters) of natural gas a year.

Sweden’s most famous maritime discovery, the royal warship Vasa, is housed in a popular museum in Stockholm where visitors can admire the ship’s details, down to the flashing teeth of the carved lions that adorn its elaborate exterior. The Vasa was raised from the Stockholm harbor in 1961, 333 years after it sank on its maiden voyage.

Thanks Breitbart.

Tagged with: Associated Press • baltic • baltic sea • centuries • Germany • gotland • nord stream • Russia • shipwrecks • Sweden • SWEDISH • warships

Swedish Man Arrested for Using Mice to Scare his Ex Girlfriend

On February 2, 2010, in Life/Culture, by admin

A 59-year-old man has been arrested for using his ex-wife’s musophobia to wreak cruel revenge for their break up after he pushed 19 mice through her letter box on Sunday morning.

“She was scared out of her wits and is now being cared for in hospital,” said Lars Lisberger at Stockholm police.

The jilted ex-husband has been arrested on suspicion of unlawful threats and animal welfare offences.

Knowing that his ex-wife suffered from musophobia – an unreasonable and disproportionate fear of rats and mice – the man arrived at her apartment in the northern Stockholm suburb of Märsta in the early hours of Sunday morning bearing a paper bag full of mice.

The 37-year-old woman awoke to find the scampering murines in her apartment and called the police at 7.30am.

Police arrested the man and took him in for questioning.

The nineteen mice captured at the woman’s apartment are also being housed at the police station pending the advice of the county veterinarian.

According to the Aftonbladet newspaper, the man has demanded the return of his mice.

“He has treated both the mice and his ex-wife badly, so I do not think that he should be given any of them. But we shall have to wait and see what the authorities decide,” Lars Lisberger told the newspaper.

Thanks The Local Sweden.

Tagged with: aftonbladet • animal welfare • Arrested • hospital • mice • musophobia • Police • revenge • scared • stockholm • Sunday • Sweden

Swedish Man Finally Gives up on Producing Milk

On December 2, 2009, in Life/Culture, by admin

A Swedish man who spent months attempting to pump milk from his breasts has given up on the failed attempt, his observers said.

Magnus Talib, a member of the editorial team for TV show Aschberg, which has been observing the progress of “Milkman” Ragnar Bengtsson, 26, said the young father’s daily three-hour breast pumping failed to produce any milk, The Local reported Tuesday.

“All he got was sore breasts,” Talib said of Bengtsson’s attempt, which began in September.

However, Talib said Bengtsson has another perk coming from his project — he is flying to the United States this week to film an appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show.”

Thanks UPI.

Tagged with: Milk • PUMP MILK • Sweden • SWEDISH • THE LOCAL • TV • TYRA BANKS SHOW • United States • upi

Swedish Woman Killed by Elk not Husband!

On November 29, 2009, in Life/Culture, by admin

A man arrested in Sweden on suspicion of murdering his wife has been cleared after police decided she was probably killed by an elk.

Ingemar Westlund, 68, found the body of his wife Agneta, 63, by a lake close to the village of Loftahammer in September 2008.

His wife had last been seen taking the family dog out for a walk in the forest. When she failed to return her husband went out to look for her.

Mr Westlund was arrested and held in police custody for 10 days.

However, the case has now finally been dropped after forensic analysis found elk hair and saliva on his wife’s clothes.

Although the murder investigation was dropped five months ago, details have only just emerged and the police plan to hold a news conference next week to explain what happened.

Mr Westlund told the Expressen newspaper in Sweden: “My family and I have been dragged through a nightmare.”

The European elk, or moose, is usually considered to be shy and will normally run away from humans. But Swedish Radio International says the animals can become aggressive after eating fermented fallen apples in gardens.

Some cultures revere the elk as a spiritual force. In parts of Asia, antlers and their velvet are used in traditional medicines. Elk are hunted as a game species; the meat is leaner and higher in protein than beef or chicken.

Thanks Telegraph UK.

Tagged with: Asia • beef • Chicken • Dog • elk • European • expressen • loftahammer • moose • Police • saliva • Sweden • UK • walk

Bermuda Triangle in European Seas?

On August 12, 2009, in Life/Culture, by admin

This is strange. But from Breitbart: First the ship reported it had been attacked in waters off Sweden. Then it sailed with no apparent problems through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. And then it disappeared. The Arctic Sea, a Maltese-flagged cargo ship, was supposed to make port in Algeria with its cargo of timber on Aug. 4. More than a week later, there’s no sign of the ship or its Russian crew. Piracy has exploded off the coast of lawless Somalia—but could this be an almost unheard of case of sea banditry in European waters?

If this is a criminal act, it appears to be following a new business model,” Marine intelligence expert Graeme Gibbon-Brooks told Sky News on Wednesday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the country’s defense minister on Wednesday to take “all necessary measures” to find the missing cargo ship and, if necessary, to free its crew, the Kremlin said. Wives and other relatives of the crew members issued an appeal to the Russian government to carry out a full-scale rescue mission, using all of Russia’s special services.

The mystery began on July 24, when the 15 crew members of the Arctic Sea said they were tied up and beaten by a group of up to 10 men who boarded the ship off the Swedish island of Oland. The masked men identified themselves as police officers—but Swedish police said they hadn’t been searching ships in that area.

Swedish police investigator Ingemar Isaksson said the crew then claimed that the men left the ship 12 hours later in a high-speed inflatable boat.

“We were very puzzled when we first heard about this,” Isaksson said then. “I have never heard of anything like this in Swedish waters.”

On July 28, the Arctic Sea made contact with British maritime authorities as it passed through the busy English Channel. The ship made a routine, mandatory report—saying who they were, where they were from, where they were going and what their cargo was. It appeared routine, said Mark Clark of Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

He said the agency is “extremely curious” about what happened to the ship.

“It’s bizarre,” he said. “There is no coastguard I know who can remember anything like this happening.”

Where the ship was next spotted is uncertain. Russian media reports say the last contact was on July 30 when the ship was in the Bay of Biscay, and that it was later spotted by a Portuguese patrol plane, but there was no contact.

But Portuguese Navy spokesman Commander Joao Barbosa said “we can guarantee that the ship is not in Portuguese waters nor did it ever pass through Portuguese waters.”

The cargo was shipped by Finnish wood supplier Rets Timber, and is worth 1.3 million euros ($1.84 million), the company said.

“We have no idea where the ship is,” company managing director Kari Naumanen told the AP in Helsinki.

Experts are very concerned about the vessel and crew, but at the same time are wary of attributing the disappearance to armed bandits.

“There have been no attacks in European waters,” said Pottengal Mukundan, director of the London-based International Maritime Bureau. “It’s not the kind of area where pirates would find it easy to operate.”

Nick Davis, the chief executive of the Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre, told the BBC that if anything had happened to the ship, cargo would have been found.

“I strongly suspect that this is probably a commercial dispute with its owner and a third party and they’ve decided to take matters into their own hands,” he said Wednesday.

Pirate attacks off Somalia’s lawless coast are a far more familiar occurrence. Pirates have launched more than 100 attacks this year in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and are currently holding about a dozen vessels.

___

Tagged with: Algeria • Artic Sea • Breitbart • Dmitry Medvedev • English Channel • European • Kremlin • Maltese • Oland • Russia • Somalia • Sweden

Blue Butterfly Mimics Ants

On June 16, 2009, in Life/Culture, by admin

In some lighter science news. A blue butterfly died out in Britain 30 years ago because of disruptions to a life cycle that includes pretending to be an ant, according to a study published Tuesday that points to smarter ways to protect wildlife. Yes, you read that right.

The large blue butterfly was successfully re-introduced to Britain from Sweden hints at how governments can use science to achieve U.N. goals of slowing a loss of animal and plant species, scientists said.

For decades, over-zealous human collectors were blamed for dwindling numbers of the large blue until scientists found that wrong-minded conservation had let grass grow taller and made soils unsuitable for the red ants that its caterpillars eat.

“We discovered that the butterfly was much more specialized than anyone had thought,” said Jeremy Thomas of Oxford University who led a study with British colleagues published in the journal Science. “It only took the grass growing 1-2 cms (0.4-0.8 inch) taller for the species of ant it relied upon to be replaced by another,” he told Reuters. Longer grass means more shade and can make the soil 2-3 Celsius (3.6-5.4 Fahrenheit) cooler.

“To human beings the change looks like absolutely nothing. But when you are on the scale of insects it makes a huge difference to the micro-habitats where they live,” he said.

The butterfly, which vanished from Britain in 1979, lays its eggs on thyme flowers and the caterpillars fall to the ground after hatching. They secrete chemicals and even make noises that make the red ants believe they are wayward grubs.

Yay! I feel like Bill Nyne now. Sort of.

Tagged with: Bill Nyne • Blue Butterfly • Britain • British • Celsius • Jeremy Thomas • Oxford University • Reuters • Science • Sweden • UN

Hillary Clinton Embarrasses Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon

Hillary Clinton Criticizes Canada Leaving out Several Key Members in Artic Meeting

12 Centuries Old War Ships Found in the Baltic Sea

Swedish Man Arrested for Using Mice to Scare his Ex Girlfriend

Swedish Man Finally Gives up on Producing Milk

Swedish Woman Killed by Elk not Husband!

Bermuda Triangle in European Seas?

Blue Butterfly Mimics Ants

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